this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2025
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Arch is aimed at people who know their shit so they can build their own distro based on how they imagine their distro to be. It is not a good distro for beginners and non power users, no matter how often you try to make your own repository, and how many GUI installers you make for it. There's a good reason why there is no GUI installer in arch (aside from being able to load it into ram). That being that to use Arch, you need to have a basic understanding of the terminal. It is in no way hard to boot arch and type in archinstall. However, if you don't even know how to do that, your experience in whatever distro, no matter how arch based it is or not, will only last until you have a dependency error or some utter and total Arch bullshit® happens on your system and you have to run to the forums because you don't understand how a wiki works.

You want a bleeding edge distro? Use goddamn Opensuse Tumbleweed for all I care, it is on par with arch, and it has none of the arch stuff.

You have this one package that is only available on arch repos? Use goddamn flatpak and stop crying about flatpak being bloated, you probably don't even know what bloat means if you can't set up arch. And no, it dosent run worse. Those 0,0001 seconds don't matter.

You really want arch so you can be cool? Read the goddamn 50 page install guide and set it up, then we'll talk about those arch forks.

(Also, most arch forks that don't use arch repos break the aur, so you don't even have the one thing you want from arch)

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

I've been using Garuda, and though I'm not a beginner, it's been great. It's a simpler experience than I had with Fedora, and better than Mint or Ubuntu, though those were about a decade ago. Arch is a fantastic base. Pure Arch is probably bad for beginners, but there are great Arch-based distros out there. SteamOS as another example of this. This post is bad.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 days ago

Hey, you forget about Gentoo Linux!

The real distro for newbies... (Provided the newbies are expert cs graduated and crazy nerds...)

All depends on what a beginner is... Not all beginners are tech illiterates or people who only want to use office.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 days ago

Everyday I see people saying they are having issue with Linux and its always because they went straight to arch and used archinstall. They have no idea how any of their system works and when they run into an issue thry do a full system reinstall.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 days ago

AMEN!

Fucking hell this is what I've been trying to hammer into people for a long time

If I hit my Alex Jones InfoVape™ hard enough I can probably weave a conspiracy theory on how Micro$oft started the "arch btw" meme in order to hurt Linux in the eyes of new users

[–] [email protected] 20 points 5 days ago (9 children)

The level of disillusion in the thread is insane. At no point in time is it a good idea to recommend Arch and it's derivatives to Linux newbies. They will 100% wreck their install in the first two weeks. Even I, as a pretty experienced user had to wipe my arch install after failed update attempts, luckily I had a separate home partition. Anything else like fedora or tumbleweed will provide packages that are very up to date, but that are also tested. For example I don't fear that updating my fedora install will completely brick the networking of my system like what happened to me on arch.

Ironically I wouldn't recommend any Ubuntu derivatives as for some reason, every single time I've installed Ubuntu or one of its variants like PopOS they ended up messed up in some way or another, albeit never as critical as Arch did to me numerous times. Probably some kind of PPA issues that make the system weird because it's always the fault of PPAs

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Mint has worked consistently for me on the PC it's installed on.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago

Those guys should just role with a Tumbleweed

No scary terminal required

Just do not get scared by YaST

And don’t forget Packman repo

And always use either flatpak or search here to find “single click” file that needs to be double clicked (lol) to install it using YaST

https://software.opensuse.org/packages

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago (6 children)

Debian is the best distro for newbies, it may require setup and reading some documentation but afterwards you get a stable distro.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 days ago (9 children)

Stable doesn't mean what you think it means. Stable means not updated.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 days ago

Debian stable is always outdated and testing is not stable enough. I think Debian is good for servers but not for desktop.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 days ago (3 children)

i wouldn't wish apt on my enemies. terrible habits with all the ppas and piping curl to bash in every forum post

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago

Newbies can not handle apt and just random deb they find in the internet and wonder why linux is so tedious to update

Most noobs I know did not understand what repo management means and are just copy pasting terminal cammands like a madlad or running random bash script with sudo because the developer thought it was the easiest way to get noobs to add their repo

I prefer giving noobs a single place of truth, if no flatpak available, like:

https://software.opensuse.org/packages

Or

AUR

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 5 days ago

EndeavourOS is the best 💪

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 days ago (2 children)

It's the best beginner distro for those beginners who want to learn about linux.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Just like the ocean is the best body of water for children who want to learn about swimming

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 5 days ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] -2 points 5 days ago (3 children)

And then wonder why everybody having a good time with their nvidia on smooth wayland vs you on your ~~ancient~~, ok now only old Kernel since the last ubuntu upgrade, and outdated nvidia drivers.

Oh wait, with mint, you are forced to use clunky Xorg aren’t you

I am sure that gives any noob the vibes of using a modern OS like windows/macOS /s

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 days ago (2 children)

I'm not sure a newcomer will notice the difference between xorg and wayland?

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Mint works like Windows and has a lot to offer any Windows 10 user who's already using FOSS. And tbh Hypnotix alone justified the install of Mint for me. I got a great IPTV viewer, plus a PC that runs everything I want.

Note: I only regularly want Discord, Firefox, Endless Sky, OpenTTD, RetroArch, and LibreOffice. I'm sure everyone else has different goals.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Windows 10 doesn’t feel like a modern OS…

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Then whatever a modern OS is under your model is not an OS I'm willing to use. I've seen Win 11. I'm going to stick with 10, as I stuck with XP through Vista, had a second machine with 7 through 8(.x), and then surrendered and used Win10 when the 32-bit Win7 machine finally stopped working for love or money.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago (1 children)

wayland is still too unstable for me to recommend. what is clunky about xorg?

[–] [email protected] -1 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Do you use a modern kernel? And, do you use a multi touch trackpad? That only works on wayland well.

I personally see the difference in for example window movement Xorg VS wayland. And I have more artefacts from window manager if use Xorg BS when O use wayland.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago (9 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

That's arguable, but I get where you're coming from.

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